Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/254

 234 THE DECLINE AND FALL deadly quarrel between two of his sons, Gildo and Mascezel.** The usurper pursued, with implacable rage, the life of his younger brother, whose courage and abilities he feared ; and Mascezel, oppressed by superior power, took refuge in the court of Milan ; where he soon received the cruel intelligence that his two innocent and helpless children had been murdered by their inhuman uncle. The affliction of the father was sus- pended only by the desire of revenge. The vigilant Stilicho already prepared to collect the naval and military forces of the Western empire ; and he had resolved, if the tyrant should be able to wage an equal and doubtful war, to march against him in person. But, as Italy required his presence, and as it might be dangerous to Aveaken the defence of the frontier, he judged it more advisable that Mascezel should attempt this arduous adventure, at the head of a chosen body of Gahic veterans, who had lately served under the standard of Eugenius. These troops, who were exhorted to convince the Avorld that they could subvert, as well as defend, the throne of an usurper, consisted of the Jovian, the Hcrculiau, and the Augustan legions; of the Nervian auxiliaries ; of the soldiers who displayed in their banners the symbol of a lion, and of the troops which were distinguished by the auspicious names of Fortunate and In- vincible. Yet such was the smallness of their establishments, or the difficulty of recruiting, that these seven bands/^ of high dignity and reputation in the service of Rome, amounted to no more than five thousand effective men.^*^ The fleet of gallies and transports sailed in tempestuous weather from the port of Pisa, in Tuscany, and steered their course to the little island of [Caprera] Capraria ; which had borrowed that name from the wild goats, its original inhabitants, whose place was now occupied by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance. " The whole island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is filled, or rather defiled, by men who fly from the light. They call themselves w He was of a mature age ; since he had formerly (A.D. 373) served against his brother Firmus (Ammian. xxix. 5). Claudian, who understood the court of Milan, dwells on the injuries, rather than the merits, of Mascezel (de Bell. Gild. 389-414). The Moorish war was not worthy of Honorius or Stilicho, &-c. •ij Claudian, Bell. Gild. 415-423. The change of discipline allowed him to use indifferently the names of Le£ro, Cohors, Manipulus. See the Notitia Imperii, S. 38, 40 ^ Orosius (1. vii. c. 36, p. 565) qualifies this account with an expression of doubt (ut aiunl), and it scarcely coincides with the ivro^ei? o.h(ia.<; of Zosinuis (1. v. p. 303 [c. 11]). Yet Claudian, after some declamation about Cadmus's soldiers, frankly owns that Stilicho sent a small army ; lest the rebel should fly, ne timeare times (i. Cons. Stilich. 1. i. 314, <S:c.).